[House Hearing, 114 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
A REVIEW OF HIGHER EDUCATION
OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE NEWEST GENERATION OF VETERANS
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
of the
COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2015
__________
Serial No. 114-10
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
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Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov
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COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
JEFF MILLER, Florida, Chairman
DOUG LAMBORN, Colorado CORRINE BROWN, Florida, Ranking
GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida, Vice- Minority Member
Chairman MARK TAKANO, California
DAVID P. ROE, Tennessee JULIA BROWNLEY, California
DAN BENISHEK, Michigan DINA TITUS, Nevada
TIM HUELSKAMP, Kansas RAUL RUIZ, California
MIKE COFFMAN, Colorado ANN M. KUSTER, New Hampshire
BRAD R. WENSTRUP, Ohio BETO O'ROURKE, Texas
JACKIE WALORSKI, Indiana KATHLEEN RICE, New York
RALPH ABRAHAM, Louisiana TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota
LEE ZELDIN, New York JERRY McNERNEY, California
RYAN COSTELLO, Pennsylvania
AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN, American
Samoa
MIKE BOST, Illinois
Jon Towers, Staff Director
Don Phillips, Democratic Staff Director
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
BRAD WENSTRUP, Ohio, Chairman
LEE ZELDIN, New York MARK TAKANO, California, Ranking
AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN, American Member
Samoa DINA TITUS, Nevada
RYAN COSTELLO, Pennsylvania KATHLEEN RICE, New York
MIKE BOST, Illinois JERRY McNERNEY, California
Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public
hearing records of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs are also
published in electronic form. The printed hearing record remains the
official version. Because electronic submissions are used to prepare
both printed and electronic versions of the hearing record, the process
of converting between various electronic formats may introduce
unintentional errors or omissions. Such occurrences are inherent in the
current publication process and should diminish as the process is
further refined.
C O N T E N T S
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Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Page
A Review of Higher Education Opportunities for the Newest
Generation of Veterans......................................... 1
OPENING STATEMENTS
Brad Wenstrup, Chairman.......................................... 1
Mark Takano, Ranking Member...................................... 2
Prepared Statement........................................... 31
WITNESSES
Mr. Terence Harrison, Manager, Veterans Programs and Services,
The University of Cincinnati................................... 4
Prepared Statement........................................... 31
Mr. Raymond C. Kelly, Director, National Legislative Service,
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.................. 6
Prepared Statement........................................... 33
Mr. Christopher Neiweem, Legislative Associate, Iraq and
Afghanistan Veterans of America................................ 7
Mr. Marc A. Barker, President, National Association of Veterans's
Program Administrators......................................... 9
Prepared Statement........................................... 36
Trustee William Withrow, Board of Trustees, Peralta Community
College District............................................... 11
Prepared Statement........................................... 37
MG Robert M. Worley II USAF (Ret.), Director Education Service
VBA, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs....................... 23
Prepared Statement........................................... 40
FOR THE RECORD
The American Legion.............................................. 52
SAVES............................................................ 62
RAND Corporation................................................. 68
A REVIEW OF HIGHER EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE NEWEST GENERATION OF
VETERANS
----------
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity
Washington, D.C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:14 p.m., in
Room 334, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Brad Wenstrup
[chairman of the subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Wenstrup, Costello, Radewagen,
Takano, Titus, Rice, McNerney.
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN BRAD WENSTRUP
Dr. Wenstrup. Well, good afternoon, everyone. I want to
welcome you all to the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity's
hearing today entitled A Review of Higher Education
Opportunities for the Newest Generation of Veterans.
VA's education and training programs have been credited
with successfully transitioning and readjusting returning
servicemembers for generations. And it has been reported that
the post-World War II GI Bill educated ten million returning
veterans, among them 14 Nobel Prize and 24 Pulitzer Prize
winners, three presidents, a dozen senators, and three Supreme
Court justices.
As an Iraq War veteran myself, I hope and expect that our
current generation of veterans will match or exceed those
numbers. And the best way to ensure the new greatest generation
flourishes is to make sure that the almost $15 billion a year
we spend on Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits is protected for future
generations to come.
I would like to outline a few ways I think we can protect
the GI Bill. First, we need to ensure that claims for benefits
are processed accurately and efficiently. Students can't
successfully complete a degree program if red tape and
unnecessary delays impact payment of tuition, fees, and living
stipends.
I was encouraged to learn that the VA already processes a
good amount of education claims without the need of any human
intervention and they do that with great accuracy. However, I
am concerned that once again the President's budget did not
request additional funds to finish the job and automate the
processing of original claims as well. We must make some
investments in this system to ensure benefits are delivered in
a timely fashion.
Secondly, it has become clear to me and most in the veteran
community that there simply have not been enough metrics to
track the return on investment through student success. I am
encouraged by the collaboration between VA and advocacy groups
to promote the Million Records Project that, for the first
time, tracks student success.
I look forward to hearing more today about the newest
iteration of this project and other ways to track student
outcomes.
The final way to protect the GI Bill is to require
additional transparency on outcomes for students in schools. In
that vein, I am also looking forward to hearing our witnesses'
views on VA's Comparison Tool and Complaint System. I know that
VA has completed these congressionally mandated tools on a
shoestring budget and I am interested to hear more about their
future plans for these programs.
As has been said before, in the end, it is up to the
student to make the right choice and use their hard-earned
benefits wisely. It is our job to ensure that they have the
tools that they need to be successful and to make the right
decisions, to help both themselves and their families.
I want to take a moment of personal privilege and welcome
Mr. Terence Harrison from the University of Cincinnati. The
University of Cincinnati has taken a lead role in providing the
best services and benefits to student veterans and I want to
personally thank Terence Harrison for being here today with us
to talk about their success.
I would also like to take a minute to just mention that I
joined the Army Reserves in 1998 and when I did, there was a
young sergeant there who helped indoctrinate me to the
military. This is someone who I gained great respect for and he
was respected by all the members of our unit, a young man of
great character and leadership. And I am not surprised that he
sits here today.
So welcome, Mr. Harrison, and we look forward to hearing
from you.
The Ranking Member is now here and if he is ready, I can
recognize him for his opening remarks.
Mr. Takano. Thank you.
Dr. Wenstrup. Thank you. Mr. Takano.
Mr. Takano. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your
consideration.
OPENING STATEMENT OF RANKING MEMBER MARK TAKANO
Well, we live in a moment in history where one-half of one
percent of our Nation is serving in the military. Compare that
to the 12 percent that served during World War II. There is a
growing gap between the shared expectations of those who have
served versus those who haven't.
Many veterans in our colleges face a range of issues not
faced by their classmates. They may be older than their fellow
classmates, outside of the classroom environment or for a long
time and in many instances, the first member of their family to
set foot in a college environment.
We can all agree education benefits are earned for the
veterans' selfless service to our country, but what does that
mean? Does it mean that veterans have the right to receive this
benefit and expend it in any way they see fit or did Congress
intend for this benefit to assist veterans in a successful
transition into the civilian workforce?
As most people in this room are aware, our veterans perform
a wide range of occupations while in the military. In the Army,
for instance, for every fighting soldier, there are 2.5
soldiers providing support in the rear. These supportive roles
can be in logistics, administration, or preparing and serving
food. This means that the country and the VA must serve
veterans with a wide range of experience.
Some experience transfers well into educational
environments while others do not. To all of them, I say we have
your back. As a former educator, I am a believer in the power
of education. Those who choose to pursue an education should
feel good about their choice and where it will lead them.
I want to take a moment to commend my colleagues who
introduced and supported the Transparency Act. This bipartisan
legislation from the 112th Congress paved the way for much
needed insight into the quality of different schools and will
continue to provide more insight over the coming years.
For instance, the legislation required VA's GI Bill
Comparison Tool which servicemembers are already using to
understand which schools best fit their needs, cost too much,
and clarify institutions that may be a poor choice in
comparison to others.
I also want to highlight a piece of legislation I recently
joined Congressman Lois Frankel and Congressman Gus Bilirakis
in introducing, the Veteran Education Empowerment Act. This
bill would reauthorize and improve a grant program through the
Department of Education that provides colleges and universities
across the country with the funds necessary to establish new
veteran student centers and to improve and operate existing
ones.
However, we still have much work to do. Our Nation's heroes
are being sold the idea that all they need to do is get a
degree from anywhere and jobs will be presented to them on a
silver platter.
Too many times I have heard the story of a soldier who uses
his or her education benefits at questionable and expensive
schools only to find that employers aren't impressed. We as a
country and more importantly the states have a role to play in
insisting that institutions provide positive outcomes for
veterans. We also have a fiscal duty to ensure that government
dollars are not being misspent at higher educational rates with
substandard outcomes.
To those who are struggling to complete their educations,
we have another obligation. In 2014, over 83,000 students using
the GI Bill had to take remedial courses while exhausting their
education benefits. Some also take on debt before they receive
a diploma, a situation the Post-9/11 GI Bill was intended to
avoid.
We need to help servicemembers and veterans understand and
address the education gaps prior to exhausting their education
benefits ideally while they are serving in the military.
And I thank the witnesses with us today for being here to
give us their insight into these important issues and I look
forward to the testimony.
Mr. Chairman, sorry for my tardiness. I yield back.
[The prepared statement of Ranking Member Mark Takano
appears in the Appendix]
Dr. Wenstrup. You are fine. Thank you.
I thank the ranking member and now welcome our first panel
to the witness table. And today we welcome Mr. Terence Harrison
with the University of Cincinnati; Mr. Ray Kelley with the
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States; Mr. Christopher
Neiweem with Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America; Mr. Marc
Barker with the National Association of Veterans' Program
Administrators; and, finally, we have Mr. William Withrow with
the Peralta Community College District in California.
Mr. Harrison, you are now recognized for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF TERENCE HARRISON
Mr. Harrison. Thank you.
Good afternoon. I would like to thank you, Chairman
Wenstrup, Ranking Member Takano, and Members of the
Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, for inviting me to
participate in today's hearing on the Department of Veterans
Affairs Administration and its education programs as well as
the educational and training needs of our newest generation of
veterans.
My name is Terence Harrison. I am the manager for Veterans
Programs and Services at the University of Cincinnati.
The University of Cincinnati or UC is a public research
university enrolling more than 43,600 undergraduate and
graduate students in 2014. Our campus is made up of students
from all 50 states and from 100 countries from around the
world.
Recognized as a military friendly school, UC is both a
leader and champion in military and veteran-related issues.
Currently UC enrolls about 2,250 military affiliated students
including active duty, members of the national guard and
reserves, veterans and family members.
Of this total, 1,007 students are using GI Bill benefits,
and this is of the 2014 semester. With anticipated drawn down
of active-duty personnel, the University of Cincinnati is
energetically positioning itself to accommodate these students.
UC adheres closely to the VA's principles of excellence and
providing a high-quality educational experience tailored to the
unique needs of veteran students. UC has instituted a number of
resources and programs to best assist our youngest generation
of veterans.
To assist veteran students with administrative needs on
campus, UC has a centralized veterans' one-stop shop located in
the same building as admissions and registration. With most of
our student services for veterans in the same buildings, these
students do not have to navigate a large campus to find the
right offices to meet their needs.
To foster a sense of community and ensure a smooth
transition to the civilian life, UC is home to the Ohio Beta
Chapter of Omega Delta Sigma. This co-ed brethren-only
fraternity has assisted countless veterans in their transition
to the University of Cincinnati by providing social support and
peer-to-peer mentoring.
Additionally, to assist prospective students and current
recipients of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, we are pleased that the VA
has developed a GI Bill Comparison Tool and a VA feedback
system. This allows students to compare their benefits across
institutions. It is a valuable tool.
To ensure that our veteran students continue to understand
and best utilize their GI Bill benefits upon enrolling, UC has
a vet success campus counselor here on our campus. This
resource allows veterans to have any GI Bill-related questions
answered in a timely manner. And UC is only one of three Ohio
schools that have such a counselor.
To meet the medical needs of student veterans, UC's
proximity to the VA hospital allows for students to quickly
receive any required medical services. UC is a partner with the
VA sponsored Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership
Program or VITAL.
Veterans with psychological issues can meet with a VA
clinical psychologist on campus or if they choose at the VA
hospital. Additionally, the University of Cincinnati's Center
of Psychological Services or CPS has a professionally trained
and licensed staff that can address the needs of student
veterans free of charge.
In addition to these campus-based services, UC remains on
the cutting edge of interdisciplinary research and training
that benefits the Nation's active-duty military, veterans and
their families.
For instance, UC is participating in a joint study with the
VA regarding the lingering effects of posttraumatic stress
disorder. This ongoing study which opened in 2010 is charged
with seeing which types of therapy would be beneficial to those
veterans who experience PTSD.
UC also fosters strong partnerships with the military
including the Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness
Skills or C-STARS, a joint training program between the Air
Force and the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. C-STARS
pairs both civilian Air Force medical professionals and trauma
and critical care through simulation training.
UC is also an active participant in the Tri-State Vets
Educational Group. This group is comprised of veteran
representatives from nine universities and colleges across the
region and meets quarterly to discuss best practices.
Additionally, they develop programs that will improve the
quality of life for the veterans on the respective campuses.
With regard to implementation of Section 701 of the
Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014, UC
does not anticipate any obstacles in offering the Fry
Scholarship to spouses of deceased or permanently disabled
veterans. At UC, we currently have three students receiving the
Fry Scholarship.
And as for implementing Section 702, UC has offered in-
state tuition to all student veterans since 2009. Because the
Ohio GI promises, all the veteran has to do is show proof of
residency and the school will immediately grant in-state
tuition.
One problem that is slowly eroding is that the veteran does
not realize that they have to apply for residency and this has
been a priority for us for years. And I encourage all schools
seeking to meet the requirements to look to UC as an example.
So in closing, I want to thank you for allowing me to share
the great work that the University of Cincinnati is doing to
accommodate current and future veteran students and their
families.
I look forward to working with you as you expand services
for veteran students and, again, offer the University of
Cincinnati as an example to inform policy and to guide schools
in shaping their programs.
[The prepared statement of Terence Harrison appears in the
Appendix]
Dr. Wenstrup. Thank you, Mr. Harrison.
Mr. Kelley, you are now recognized for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF RAYMOND C. KELLEY
Mr. Kelley. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Takano, on behalf
of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and our Auxiliaries, thanks for
the opportunity to testify today.
Over the past few years, the VFW has worked with this
subcommittee to provide college readiness and access, and
safeguarding student veterans against fraud, waste, and abuse.
The VFW remains concerned that far too few veterans take
advantage of their earned education benefits and the veterans
who believe they were treated unfairly by higher education
still lack the viable tools for swift intervention and
adjudication.
Congress and VA have worked to make veterans educated
consumers and provide them a consumer feedback system so
complaints can be lodged and actions can be taken when
necessary.
While these tools have provided significant assistance to
student veterans, the VFW worries that all too often veterans
use a Comparison Tool only after they have enrolled in school
and that reviews of complaints logged in the consumer feedback
system are not responded to in a timely manner.
Through VFW's One Student Veteran resource, we have worked
with veterans who have questions or unresolved complaints with
their education benefits. The vast majority of these inquiries
are directed towards eligibility and paying for college.
However, the most concerning inquiries deal with VA benefit
overpayment and debt collection. When an overpayment occurs, VA
sends a notification of overpayment and provides a couple
options for repayment. If the veteran is unable to make a
timely repayment, his or her debt is sent to collections and VA
will garnish payment until the debt is repaid.
To eliminate this stress, the VFW proposes presenting
veterans with three options for repayment when they are
notified of an overpayment. They can either elect to repay it
immediately; arrange repayment over several months; or have
their months of benefit eligibility reduced by the number of
months that must be repaid. This will allow veterans some
flexibility in repaying the debt without a fear of financial
instability.
The Department of Defense was tasked with designing three
voluntary track curricula for transitioning servicemembers to
include the accessing higher education track. The education
track has gone through several changes since its inception and
is a significant improvement over past iterations.
The VFW remains concerned that many transitioning
servicemembers will not have access to a classroom proctor
discussion as part of TAP. As the VFW visits military
installations, we continue to hear that small unit commanders
are reluctant to allow junior servicemembers to participate in
this program. This has a direct impact on those servicemembers
who likely need the training the most,--those who are first-
term enlisted servicemembers.
This is why the VFW supported last year's provision to make
participation in the education track mandatory for college-
bound transitioning servicemembers. However, this access
problem cannot be solely through policy initiatives. It will
likely take a major cultural shift within the military. That is
why the VFW continues to advocate for transitional training
throughout the military life cycle and ensuring veterans still
have access to training and resources after leaving the
military.
Only a few years ago, the VFW recognized that military life
often precludes recently separating servicemembers and their
dependents from satisfying strict residency and physical
presence requirements for in-state tuition, thereby often
hindering access to quality cost-effective education.
Erasing the in-state requirement for veterans and their
dependents has been a top priority for the VFW and with the
passage of VACAA, we are now moving closer to making that a
reality. However, implementation of in-state tuition isn't
without its road blocks. We need to ensure that states that are
having trouble with implementation are granted the extension
waiver. We also need to ensure that states also include
eligible dependents in their implementation plan for in-state
tuition.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my testimony and I am happy to
answer any questions you or the committee may have.
[The prepared statement of Raymond C. Kelley appears in the
Appendix]
Dr. Wenstrup. Well, thank you, Mr. Kelley.
Mr. Neiweem, you are now recognized for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF CHRISTOPHER NEIWEEM
Mr. Neiweem. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Wenstrup, Ranking Member Takano, and distinguished
Members of the subcommittee, on behalf of Iraq and Afghanistan
Veterans of America and our nearly 400,000 members and
supporters, thank you for the opportunity to share our views
with you at today's hearing examining higher education
opportunities for the newest generation of veterans.
IAVA is proud to have played a leading role in the fight
for the Post-9/11 GI Bill helping to build a united front among
veterans' organizations and a bipartisan consensus in Congress.
Today preserving and defending this critical benefit remains a
top priority for our organization and our members.
There are three overarching themes rolled into the topic of
this hearing that stand out in the feedback we have received
from IAVA members from across the country.
First, our members' feedback on the Post-9/11 GI Bill has
been overwhelmingly positive. Recent survey data indicated that
more than half of those surveyed or their dependents have used
the Post-9/11 GI Bill and a majority reported a good or
excellent experience in using the benefit.
However, more than one-third of those that have used the
Post-9/11 GI Bill reported being impacted by late payments. In
fact, many respondents reported delays with more than three
payments. Student veterans often rely heavily or entirely on
their education benefits to support themselves and even one
missed or late payment can have a detrimental impact on their
ability to focus on their academics.
To the VA's credit, nearly half of those who receive late
payments did believe that VA assisted in quickly resolving
their issues. It is encouraging to see VA stepping in quickly
to fix errors and address these issues as they surface.
However, late payments continue to occur and it is critical
that VA take corrective action to eliminate these occurrences
altogether.
IAVA's Rapid Response Referral Program or triple RP
frequently assists Post-9/11 veterans who are experiencing
issues such as these and we will continue to assist veterans
and the VA as well in any way that we can. We appreciate VA's
work in this area, but insist the department achieve consistent
and timely delivery on this earned benefit.
Secondly, turning to on-campus support programs, it is
important to recognize that servicemembers and veterans are
among the most driven, disciplined, and motivated individuals,
but transitioning from active-duty military to a college campus
can be disorienting and frustrating, especially for those who
have recently returned from one or more combat deployments.
Many colleges across the country have already created and
maintain successful student veteran support operations. Rutgers
University, for example, has five staff members solely
dedicated to serving student vets. This staff supports the more
than 1,000 veterans in the Rutgers system which has showed high
academic retention rates.
The programs at colleges around the country we hear work
the best typically share some common characteristics. One such
feature of successful models incorporate the veteran peer-to-
peer outreach support approach. Veteran alumni or student
veteran leaders creating social networks often result in strong
academic bonds among the student veteran cohort and support
meaningful long-term connections that help them succeed in the
future.
Congress, the private sector, and nonprofit organizations
should continue to invest in promoting on-campus support
programs for veterans attending college given that these
programs have the potential to greatly increase veterans'
chances for success both academically and in the workforce
after graduation.
And, lastly, the VA complaint system. This system was
developed to allow student veterans receiving GI Bill benefits
to submit feedback or complaints in the event that they felt
their school wasn't representing their best interest or they
had a problem and that it did not comply with the principles of
excellence required by President Obama's Executive Order 13607.
The system is currently structured so that VA receives a
complaint through an automated intake mechanism. It then
notifies both the school and the student that the complaint has
been received. At that point, the VA acts as a sort of middle
man until the complaint is or the issue is resolved.
Although the intake process is automated, the rest of the
process is lax and inefficient. When a notification of a
complaint is issued to a school, corrective action often takes
weeks or months to resolve even common issues. Schools can
generate wholly insufficient responses and then classify those
responses as resolutions.
To sum up the scenario here, Mr. Chairman, there are
currently more than 1,000 backlog complaints and the schools
are driving the process. IAVA recommends that two actions occur
to correct this.
The first is automate the entire process from front to
back. The complaints when they are received, they need to be
stored in the same central system so that it is centralized and
it is easy to access.
And the second thing is VA needs to jump in the driver's
seat and not let the schools drive this. We recommend they set
the expectation that these complaints are resolved within two
weeks. That way, we are not dealing with 30 days, 60 days or
worse which we have seen now.
Mr. Chairman, thank you again for the opportunity to offer
our views on this and we look forward to any questions you
have.
[The prepared statement of Christopher Neiweem appears in
the Appendix]
Dr. Wenstrup. Well, thank you, Mr. Neiweem.
Mr. Barker, you are now recognized for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF MARC A. BARKER
Mr. Barker. Chairman Wenstrup, Ranking Member Takano, and
Members of the subcommittee, the National Association of
Veterans' Program Administrators is pleased to be invited to
provide comments this afternoon.
NAVPA is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization
founded in 1975 by school certifying officials. Our
organization represents close to 400 education institutions
nationwide.
NAVPA recognizes the significant higher education
opportunities that are afforded this generation of veterans. We
are committed in partnership with the Department of Veteran
Affairs to ensure the success of the programs that are funded.
A year ago, Student Veterans of America published the
Million Records Project. One of the clear observations that
emerged from the data in this study was the unique
nontraditional education pathways that veterans take. Student
veterans are more likely to transfer or change institutions and
take longer than traditional college students to complete their
education credentials. This makes defining success and
measuring outcomes of veterans challenging.
The GI Bill Comparison Tool is an important breakthrough in
providing information to potential student veterans. However,
it has significant limitations. The graduation rate used in the
tool is the Department of Education's metric based on the
Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System, iPEDS.
The iPEDS graduation cohort is limited to first-time, full-
time students. Therefore, students who arrive on campus with
transfer credits or start at one institution but graduate from
another are unrepresented in the graduation rate.
Based on the American Council on Education's
recommendations, servicemembers' and veterans' military
transcripts are evaluated for transfer credit. If credit is
awarded, the student will never be represented in the
graduation cohort rate currently reported in the Comparison
Tool.
Being mindful of the SVA's Million Records Project, the
metric used in the GI Bill Comparison Tool does not account for
the unique experience and enrollment patterns of student
veterans, specifically the arrival on campus with credits from
the military transcript and the high transfer rate between
institutions, thus making the iPEDS graduation data not truly
reflective of the efforts of the student veterans or the
institutions providing their education.
Rather than the current graduation metric used in the
Comparison Tool, course completion rates would be a better
indicator of veteran students' success. While graduation rates
are an important indicator, NAVPA believes that veterans
deserve a more valid Comparison Tool which utilizes relevant
data and metrics and urges Congress to ensure that the VA has
adequate funding resources and time to develop such a tool.
NAVPA endorses the feedback system. We support the
increased scrutiny by the VA for validated serious complaints
including risk-based program reviews. We ask that the
notification follow-up and the resolution process currently be
improved.
Our membership reports that once they provided feedback for
a complaint lodged against their school, resolution information
is not currently being provided by the VA.
It is also worth noting that there are significant concerns
that all complaints whether valid or invalid against
institutions is available in the school's summary section of
the Comparison Tool.
It is the position of NAVPA that only validated complaints
be listed along with the summary of corrective actions taken.
The Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014
is viewed by NAVPA as a significant commitment from our country
to our most deserving population. Section 702 of the act
requiring that all public institutions of learning that are
participating in VA-approved programs charge in-state tuition
and fees to covered individuals as described in the act is
indeed supported by NAVPA membership.
NAVPA is concerned that the implementation date of July 1,
2015 may not allow all state governments to pass legislation
that will bring their states into compliance with Section 702.
We understand that the VA is in the process of developing
waiver criteria for states that are actively pursuing changes
to become compliant. It is our position that waivers may create
a situation of inequity between state institutions.
We respectfully request that this committee strongly
consider House Resolution 475 which includes moving the
implementation date for Section 702 to July 1, 2016.
And our membership would like to commend the Department of
Veteran Affairs for their work in successfully implementing
Section 701 of the Choice Act. Our member schools have reported
that the implementation of Section 701 including transferring
covered individuals from other VA education benefits to the Fry
Scholar has been handled very well by the VA.
In closing, on behalf of the membership institutions of
NAVPA, I thank you for the opportunity to discuss these
important issues with the committee today.
[The prepared statement of Marc A. Barker appears in the
Appendix]
Dr. Wenstrup. Well, thank you, Mr. Barker.
Now, Mr. Withrow, you are recognized for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM WITHROW
Mr. Withrow. Mr. Chairman, Members of the committee, thank
you so very much for the opportunity to appear before you
today. I am pleased to have this chance to discuss some of the
programs that Peralta College has developed to assist veterans.
My name is Bill Withrow and I am a member of the Peralta
Board of Trustees and I am also a veteran.
The Peralta district includes four colleges located on the
east side of the San Francisco Bay and serves over 30,000
students. We take pride in supporting the educational needs of
veterans through a comprehensive array of high-quality programs
and services.
However, not all of them take advantage of the GI
educational benefits. Given our low cost, many veterans choose
not to use their educational benefits while attending our
colleges, saving them for when they transfer to the more
expensive four-year universities and the opportunity for
postgraduate education.
But whether they are using their benefits or not, we still
provide them with special assistance such as we provide up to
six semester hours of credit for military education that can be
used toward achieving an associate degree.
We work with veterans to waive out-of-state tuition.
Veterans receive priority first-in-line registration for
classes and access to certified counselors. We enroll all
newly-arrived veterans in a one unit semester-long orientation
to college course that introduces them to college life and
connects them to the services available to help them succeed.
The Counseling Department offers transfer workshops to ease
the transition, to ease the transition to four-year colleges
and universities.
We have a one-stop business and career center that provides
free employment services to job seekers and employers.
We provide space committed to veterans to allow them to
interact and to relate to their peers. We also sponsor student
clubs for veterans.
As you can see, we value our veterans and provide services
to make their experience successful, but we have some
suggestions on ways to improve the existing educational
program.
First, there needs to be more recognition and support for
remediation or developmental classes. I do understand that this
is controversial, but over 70 percent of our students overall
enrolling at the Peralta colleges need some level of
developmental education to get up to speed to the college level
standards.
Veterans benefits cover six hours for developmental courses
that are noncredit. Quite frankly, more is needed. Many
students, especially veterans who may have been out of school
for awhile, need more than six hours to successfully take
credit courses and gain the most out of them.
Second, we recommend and provide more institutions to
resources for colleges to be able to support their veteran
populations. We have established a dean of equity and student
success at the district level to provide a centralized way of
tracking the progress of veterans. Peralta is funding this
position out of its own resources. We believe that the VA could
and should assist with this type of institutional support.
Finally, we encourage the military services and the VA to
provide more transition support for veterans who are discharged
from active duty.
In summary, Mr. Chairman, I recently met with a number of
our veteran students and I am pleased to find that they were
very satisfied at the education that they were receiving, the
administrative support and the counseling, and that they felt
that they were receiving a solid base for their educational and
career goals. Veterans education programs are an ultimate win-
win; a win for the student, and a win for the regional economic
engines.
Many of the certificate and workforce programs dovetail
into the experiences the students have had in one of their
services leading to rewarding careers such as auto technology,
aviation engineering, and all of the allied health services.
As I mentioned at the start of my testimony, I served as a
veteran. I am a retired naval officer with over 24 years on
active duty. I took an oath at each promotion, up to, and
including captain, to protect the interests of enlisted
personnel. That carries over into my retirement. I am
personally dedicated to the well-being of our veterans and
Peralta shares that deep sentiment. We look forward to working
with this Committee to provide the very best educational
experiences for our nation's veterans. They have earned it.
[The prepared statement of William Withrow appears in the
Appendix]
Dr. Wenstrup. I will now yield myself five minutes for
questions.
First, I do want to say that I want to thank you very much
for your input, for your advice, and for your sharing of ideas
here today. I think it is very helpful as we move forward and
try to make things as best we can.
In that note, Mr. Harrison, can you tell me a little bit
more about the tri-state vets education group and the benefit
of sharing some of your best practices amongst other schools in
the area?
Mr. Harrison. Yes, sir. Our group is made up of veterans
representatives from the nine colleges and universities in the
tri-state region; that does include North Kentucky and
Southeast Indiana, Cincinnati State, Northern Kentucky
University, Thomas More College, Mount St. Joseph University,
Ivy Tech, Wright State University, Gateway Community College,
Xavier University, and, of course, ourselves, and also a
representative from Veterans Upward Bound, they do join us.
And what we do is we meet quarterly--in fact, we will be
meeting at UC in a couple of weeks--and discuss best practices
at each school, like what are we doing for our veterans. And
why we do this is because it shows solidarity. We are not
trying to poach students. We are doing this in an act of good
faith because our attitude is they are first, school is second.
So anything that is best for the veteran, we are going to try
to push it to our schools, get our administration on board.
And also, too, when we go out and talk about the different
programs to the Reserve and National Guard units, we are
showing them that, Hey, we are on board; we are not just
looking at you as just a number, we are looking at you as an
individual. So if this is not the school for you, you can call
this veterans rep at this school and they are going to be able
to help you.
Dr. Wenstrup. Do you have a common number for the whole
group that someone can call or is that through whichever
institution they happen to engage first?
Mr. Harrison. Oh, we just give them the individual
institution. So if it is, you know, Xavier University, we give
them the vet rep's name and their telephone, email address, and
at the other schools, as well.
Dr. Wenstrup. Thank you.
I would like to ask a similar question, thereto, to you,
Mr. Withrow. Is your college engaged in a situation like that
or have you thought about that?
Mr. Withrow. We work closely with communities throughout
the districts, if you will, throughout the state, at the
community college level. We have workshops at least twice a
year and working with veterans is a popular one right now,
number one.
Number two, we have joined with six other districts to
participate in what we call a stand-down. A lot of support
groups, as well as educational institutions, meet at the
fairgrounds for the Alameda County, and it is a way to try and
break into the community.
Quite frankly, it is not easy to market to a veterans
group; they are dispersed--even though we have somewhere north
of 260,000 veterans in the Bay Area, they are dispersed quite
broadly and our method has been to, again, participate in a
broad base, if you will.
Dr. Wenstrup. And I know that is a concern in many
communities, especially some of the smaller communities, in my
own district, where the community colleges have people in the
area who have benefits and aren't taking advantage of them.
Along the lines of best practices, I am curious, Mr.
Harrison, you mentioned that the University of Cincinnati has
psychological services that are free of charge, can you tell me
more about that and what kind of feedback you are getting,
especially when you consider some of the issues that veterans
face when they get out of the military.
Mr. Harrison. Yes, sir. What we try to do is we have the
University of Cincinnati CAPS program, which is a UC-based
program and everybody there is a UC employee. And then we also
have the VA service, the VITAL program. And the VA hospital is
within walking distance of the university. So what that does is
we give the veteran a choice, if they want to see a VA
psychologist, they can go to the hospital. They can come--or
the psychologist can come to the school and we will give them
space to speak to that individual, be it my office or a
conference room, we will give them that space. And the same
with the CAPS, they do have a place where they can go. They
have trained psychologist, and it is a holistic program.
So it is really just giving that veteran an option on who
they want to see, but we work closely----
Dr. Wenstrup. And are they taking advantage of that?
Mr. Harrison. Oh, yes. And one of the problems is that a
lot of veterans may or may not be aware of the services
because, you know, they get flooded with emails at school from
their instructors or from whoever, so it is just trying to make
sure that when they come to our window and we find out they
have some type of issue, we direct them in the right location
so we can take them to the Office of Disability Services who
they can refer them to CAPS or we can call the VA counselor, if
needed.
Dr. Wenstrup. Thank you very much.
I know recognize the ranking member for any questions that
he may have.
Mr. Takano. Mr. Withrow, I would like to welcome someone
who's a community college trustee. I was one for 22 years in
California, so I welcome this question about veterans, using
their benefits. Do you believe that--do you have an idea of how
many veterans are in need of remedial education, the number of
students?
Mr. Withrow. Well, I can tell you that at least one college
that we polled, the comparison tool showed 144 veterans using
the GI Bill and we have identified 260 that we are focusing on.
So it is about relationship at each of the colleges.
Our, as you know, our tuition fees in California are pretty
low----
Mr. Takano. Yes.
Mr. Withrow [continuing]. And so it does make it, for those
who have the wherewithal, quite frankly, to live and subside,
it does make sense to defer using the GI Bill until they pursue
a four-year university.
Mr. Takano. But we think there are a lot of veterans who
are not using their benefits, right? That a lot of veterans are
not using their benefits at all; and do you think that an
impediment for some of these veterans might be that they are
not college-ready?
Mr. Withrow. I do, no question about that. And that is the
reason why we feel concerned about what we call developmental
education.
Mr. Takano. So there are veterans who are obviously saving
their benefits for a more expensive education, but there is a
whole swath of veterans that we know are not using their
benefits at all because they may be impeded by their lack of
preparedness to engage college over work.
I was unaware that they can use up to--how much of their
veterans benefits can they use?
Mr. Withrow. They can use six credit hours.
Mr. Takano. Six credit hours.
But they have to be enrolled in a full-credit load in order
to be able to get their living stipend; is that right?
Mr. Withrow. They have to complete 12 hours before it is,
in fact, waived.
Mr. Takano. Okay.
Mr. Withrow. So far, that hasn't been an issue, but in
talking to counselors and talking to faculty, they feel that
the veterans who would get more out of the courses they take,
it would have more meaning and more depth to it if, in fact,
they had taken some developmental courses before.
Mr. Takano. Okay. Does your district offer any condensed or
short-term remediation programs, like something that can be
done in the summer, something over a semester, different levels
of remediation, Mr. Withrow?
Mr. Withrow. You know, I don't know that I have enough to
really answer that. I'm sorry.
Mr. Takano. Okay. Do you believe that--I mean I personally
believe that we should do something supplemental so we don't
cause veterans to have to use up their precious benefits. Some
veterans can get this remediation done in three months; maybe
some in a semester; maybe some in a year. Pell Grant
recipients, for example, can use up to a year of their benefits
full-time for remediation. I think we should do no less for our
veterans and we shouldn't cause them to eat up their existing
pool of benefits.
I think we make these veterans--we recruit servicemembers
on the basis of these educational benefits and they are empty
and hollow if they can't use them because of this lack of
college preparedness. And we know there is a whole swath of
these veterans that are transitioning and this is a huge
barrier.
Mr. Neiweem--is that how you say your name--can you--the
Iraq and the Afghanistan veterans, do you believe that far more
of them would use these benefits? Do you think this is also an
impediment to their using these benefits?
Mr. Neiweem. So, Mr. Takano, I think it is a great concept.
In our recent survey research, we didn't specifically go after
that, but I know there are many veterans who didn't use their
benefits right away, and the longer the time goes on, a lot of
those basic core competencies, such as college math, those
sorts of things--you know, if you don't pass the competency
level for math 101, you are going to be taking 98 or 99, so I
am sure many veterans would benefit, would fall into that
category. But I can't give you a specific number now, but we
could launch a survey about it.
Mr. Takano. Great. I would appreciate that and that would
be wonderful if you could do that.
Mr. Chairman, my time is up--do--I have 26 seconds left,
okay.
I want to switch topics a little bit to Mr. Harrison. You
receive students--transfer students from both, the community
college system and for-profit programs. Can you tell me if
there is a difference in the level of preparedness with these
types of transfer students? Do a lot of students come from for-
profit institutions with credit that is not transferable, for
example?
Mr. Harrison. Unfortunately, yes. Even in my previous
position as assistant director of Veterans Upward Bound, the
community college--I was at Cincinnati State, we did have
veterans who tried to transfer--well, they didn't try, they
transferred in, but, you know, to their dismay, they found out
that their credits didn't transfer from the for-profit schools.
And one thing, you know, that I am committed to do is when
I, like I said earlier, when I do outreach is to explain to the
Reserve or Guard member like, Look, as you use your benefits,
you need to watch out for these schools, because they tell you
that they are certified, and they are certified, but who is
their accrediting
institution? And then once they find that out--and I am not
telling you where to go to school, but really you need to
decide for yourself, because they will promise you everything
and you have nothing to show for it once it is all shown and
done except for a high debt.
Mr. Takano. Well, thank you.
My time is up, Mr. Chairman.
Dr. Wenstrup. Thank you.
Mr. Costello, you are recognized for five minutes.
Mr. Costello. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you all for being here at this hearing to provide
your recommendations on how to best improve higher education
opportunities for our newer generation of veterans. I will also
share with you, in having read the written testimony from each
of you, that it is very substantive and I think very helpful as
a policymaker in terms of not only understanding what programs
are provided, but how we can go about making them better.
And I want to specifically reference for those of you who
do have the written testimony here today. My question is for
Mr. Kelley, but I would certainly invite everyone else to weigh
in. And it is on page 4 of your testimony, the first full
paragraph where you say--and this relates to the transition
assistance program:
``However, the VFW remains concerned that many
transitioning service members will not have access to a
classroom-proctored discussion as part of TAP. As the VFW
visits military installations, we continue to hear that small
unit commanders remain reluctant to allow junior transitioning
service members to participate in TAP. Even though TAP is now a
commander's program, the VFW believes that some military
commanders still fail to take TAP seriously. In our visits to
transition sites, this is not as much of an issue for mid-
career service members or retirees. However, it has a direct
impact on the transition of first-term enlisted service
members, who likely need the training the most.''
My question is more oriented towards asking you, any of
you, to share your observations on how we can make the TAP
program more effective, given what you have identified as, at
least your concerns, and maybe the challenges on how to make it
more effective.
Mr. Kelley. Access to that information is critical, so if
you have one access point toward the end of your military time
and it didn't all sink in and you don't have the ability to go
back and see that after service, that is a problem. In-person
meetings are always going to be better than a big group setting
where people don't have the opportunity to ask questions, and
it is on a time hack and people are hurrying through it.
So I think the set-aside and making that mandatory--if
somebody is going to go to college, they need to be prepared,
and having it as a recommendation, as an option, and then a
commander saying, I am sorry, Mr. Kelley, you can't go to that,
we need you in the field today, we need you here, we need you
doing that. So we need to make it mandatory. We need to make it
a priority to make sure that people are trained and ready to
go.
Mr. Costello. Jumping two paragraphs below, that last
sentence: ``. . . the VFW continues to advocate for
consistently delivering transitional training throughout the
military lifecycle and ensuring that veterans still have access
to training and resources after leaving the military.''
So, specifically, what might you suggest in order to make
the TAP program more effective? Is it making access to the
program earlier in the servicemember's term of service, so at
least they know what they are going to be getting out of TAP at
a later point in time?
I mean, what I don't think any of us want to see is that
you have this static program that you enter into for a moment
of time and then that moment of time is up and that is your
program, when it seems to me that the more it carries with the
servicemember, the more effective it is going to be.
Mr. Kelley. The more modes of education you give somebody,
the better they are going to receive it. So TAP is one mode,
but if you have--a lot of this information is on Army--AKO--
Knowledge Online, so they can--the servicemembers can go on
there and find out what they need to do to prepare; that is one
method.
I know the Marine Corps has correspondence courses. To get
promoted in the Marine Corps, you had to take finance for
Marines. It wasn't a real complicated course, but you had to
check that box in order to get promoted.
Having that for education benefits, to know how to use your
tuition assistance and how you can parlay that into your GI
Bill would be very important-be able to have bridge courses
before you even leave active duty.
Mr. Takano asked the question, are people ill-prepared or
do they have reservations about accessing college? And they do.
If you have been out of service or out of school for six
years--and it wasn't a big priority to you because you knew
that you were going to go into the service,--community you
didn't retain a lot of that. And now that you are coming to the
end of your military service, you start thinking, I don't
remember algebra at all and I haven't written anything other
than maybe a small report, so that is probably not going to cut
the mustard.
So we need to give them opportunities along the way to keep
relevant in those skills, because they are perishable.
Dr. Wenstrup. Ms. Rice, you are recognized for five
minutes.
Ms. Rice. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
So I recently met with a group of veteran service
organizations back in my district, back on Long Island and they
raised a number of issues and I just want to see if these are
things that you have experienced either at your school or in
servicing the veterans who come to ask you for help.
The entitlement period that you can access these benefits,
is that--it is my understanding that that is a 36-month
entitlement period that they have to use the benefits during
that time. Is there any way to extend that--I guess I will ask
this to you, Mr. Harrison--in terms of--or whoever else thinks
they might be able to do that--to take into consideration all
the other, whether they are working part-time or full-time
supporting their families, the levels of stress?
Mr. Harrison. I know our VetSuccess counselor did a
tutorial on that for some of our administrators and she
explained the matrix, like, you know, it says 36 months and if
you drop it down part-time or halftime, whatever, it is togoing
to extend--it is not like 36 straight months, you know.
Ms. Rice. You can take breaks?
Mr. Harrison. Yes, if you can justify them.
Ms. Rice. Okay. And if this person was not given that
benefit, that is something that we might be able to do
something about?
Mr. Harrison. Well, they have to be given the benefit.
Ms. Rice. Or wasn't given that extension, I should say.
Mr. Barker. Ms. Rice, if I may?
The benefit--the charge for the entitlement of the benefit
is not--the 36-month charge is only charged a full month if the
student is enrolled at full-time for the full month.
Ms. Rice. You have to be full-time.
Mr. Barker. To answer your question, for a student who is
attending a college or a university using the first 9-1-1 GI
Bill at less than the full-time rate, then there is a natural
expansion of the benefit in there, in that the entire month,
the 36 months is not being eaten up. Does that make sense?
Ms. Rice. Yes. I just wanted to--because I will address
this issue with this particular person who brought it up with
me, but thank you.
Now, Mr. Harrison, how--obviously, we know that a lot of
student veterans, in addition to going to school, they have
families, a lot of them are dealing with post-traumatic stress
disorder, or other mental health or other stress problems that
could affect their ability in their day-to-day classes. What, I
guess, what do institutions like yours do to ensure that
professors are prepared for those unique challenges that
student veterans face? I know that you said that you have
counselors there that they can be referred to, but is there any
particular training that the actual professors go through to be
able to maybe identify at some--a student who might be
presenting at-risk symptoms?
Mr. Harrison. We just do it on an individual basis. So if
we get word that an individual is having an issue in school, I
will personally reach out to that instructor and try to find
out what is going on, if it is the instructor or if it is the
student or if it is a little bit of both. And we let the
instructors know; we do have tutorials throughout the school
year, you know, it is like, okay, if this is going on, let us
know. You have our office. You have the Office of Disability
Services. You have the Center for Psychological Services. We
give them all the phone numbers they may need in case something
were to happen.
Plus, we also have--we just instituted this at our school--
it is like a safe zone, safe for veterans. So, there is like a
placard they can stick on their window, so if a veteran is
having a hard time, they can look and see, okay, I can go here
and they know what is going on and they know who to call.
Ms. Rice. Okay. To the--I know I have very limited time--I
just wanted to throw this out. I am going to ask this of Mr.
Withrow. I have a community college in my district, Nassau
Community College, that also serves a large number of veterans
and wants to hire, you know, a VetSuccess on Campus counselor
to better understand their needs, but I understand the ability
to do that is driven by the size of the school; is that true?
And if so, what is your reaction to that?
Mr. Withrow. There are no constraints on the size. I
don't----
Ms. Rice. Any size school can access a counselor?
Mr. Withrow. Any veteran can access a counselor.
California has a well-known shortfall in counselors
throughout, including the community colleges, but we have made
a point of having dedicated counselors that, in fact, are--
receive certificates that they are qualified to counsel
veterans. And whether the veterans are taking advantage of the
GI Bill or not, they still have access to these counselors.
Ms. Rice. Do you have a--yes.
Mr. Barker. Very quickly, Ms. Rice.
I believe that you are alluding to a program that is a VA-
specific program, VetSuccess on Campus. It does have some
parameters for the amount of veterans that are on campus, but
that is a very specific VA program, and then the proximity to
other veterans services. So it is a VO region. It's the number
of veterans on campus, yes, indeed.
Ms. Rice. With the Chairman's indulgence, just one--I had
another individual who brought an issue to--and just to anyone
who can answer this--this veteran expressed that it was
difficult for him to access full benefits. If you have a mental
health issue that results in a less-than-honorable discharge,
that has got to be fixed. Do you all agree?
Mr. Barker. Absolutely.
Ms. Rice. Good. There you go. I just think that we would
all agree that that is crazy.
And one other thing, I think that like anything else, it is
getting the word out there to people, to veterans, that there
are these benefits out there for them to access and that is
always--when you talk about how we can better serve the veteran
population, outreach, I think, is the number one thing that we
can improve on.
Thank you very much for the Chairman's indulgence.
Dr. Wenstrup. Ms. Radewagen, you are recognized for five
minutes.
Ms. Radewagen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I, too, want to thank all of you for being with us here
today. My question is for all of you: Can you please discuss
the most common barriers to success that student veterans
encounter and what can be done to help students overcome these
student barriers, especially those student veterans living in
remote areas such as American Samoa, attending a local
community college.
We don't have a local VA benefits counselor that can help
them navigate these barriers. A benefit counselor comes from
Hawaii maybe once a month or every couple months, depending on
their availability, to help our veterans answer benefits
questions. That is not adequate support for our veterans who
are geographically and economically isolated and who live 2500
miles due south of Hawaii.
Mr. Kelley. I think the number one access issue is
finances. Without in-state tuition, veterans are paying out of
pocket. Students who are in American Samoa going to community
college and want to transfer to the University of Hawaii are
going to pay out-of-state tuition; we need to fix that.
Mr. Barker. I would agree with the gentleman from the VA
that finances can become the biggest challenge, but I would
offer that the residency issue is just one issue. And out-of-
state tuition and fees, there is a vehicle in place currently
for institutions to be able to participate in the Yellow Ribbon
program, which is a partnership between the Department of
Veterans Affairs and an individual institution. So there is a
vehicle there that exists.
I harken back to academic preparedness, frankly, and I
think that the folks that make up my membership in 400
institutions would probably agree that academic preparedness
and veterans arriving on campus being able to face the rigors
of higher ed becomes their biggest challenge. And not because
they don't have the capacity, but, frankly, they don't have--in
a lot of cases they don't have the--I don't want to say
motivation, because they are highly motivated, but they just
have not seen what it takes to be successful in higher ed
previously, so they don't have a model to follow frankly.
Ms. Radewagen. Thank you.
Mr. Withrow. I would like to followup on that, if I could.
We found that counselors are the key to removing barriers to
success. And having access to counselors who not only can give
guidance, but become advocates, that is something that we have
stressed.
I would also like to point out that not all veterans fit
within a box. I mean we have veterans that, given the kind of
services that they were involved in, are extremely well-
prepared. Quite frankly, we only give them six hours of credit,
but graduates of the Language Institute Monterey receive a
fantastic education; it is one of the finest in the country, if
not in the world.
Again, it depends on what the veteran has worked in. A lot
of the applications are, in fact, convertible into civilian
life, they are convertible into success and education, a lot
are not. And it is the ones that are not we have found that the
counseling is the most advantageous.
Mr. Neiweem. And if I could just say that I think more
basically just a human connection. I mean someone with a human
connection or a significant other is more, with a significant
other, is more likely to succeed, and if they do not, having a
veteran that they have a connection with is going to enhance
the campus experience.
And I did want to touch on the fact that the IAVA and VFW
both have been supporting the Discharge Review Board of you,
Board, to look at veterans that have been discharged other than
honorable, that there be a remedial mechanism to see if that,
you know, that discharge may have been related to post-
traumatic stress in combat. So that is something we have
supported.
And just one clarification, I think we clarified it, but
the 36-month benefit is the duration of the benefit, it is not
an eligibility window, so you can use it after the 36 months.
Ms. Radewagen. And I hear from Mr. Harrison.
Mr. Harrison. Yes. I guess at a large urban school some of
the problem that other institutions may face, we do or we don't
face, one of the things I have seen outside of funding, you
know, sometimes they run out of benefits or even if they are
discharged or care after service may not be what they need,
sometimes it is just that lack of fear. You know, because no--
you know I relate my own experiences when I got back from Iraq.
You know, you are going at such a high tempo that when it is
all said and done you are back to a civilian life. Then it is
just like--you are like a fish out of water.
And sometimes what that younger veteran within the
experience--they don't have the life experience of your average
25-year-old who just graduated high school and went straight to
college. They have done a lot more, I mean you are 19 years
old, you know, you are signing a will to give all your worldly
belongings to somebody else, your range of experience is
broader than that.
But then I try to motivate them too. Say, look, if you can
handle Iraq, you can handle the classroom. Don't worry about
failing, you are not going to fail, we got people here who want
you to succeed, they don't want to fail you, and we got people
here to prop you up. So really it is just trying to encourage
them and motivate them like, hey, you can do this.
Ms. Radewagen. That is very helpful. Thank you very much,
my time is up. Mr. Chairman, thank you.
Dr. Wenstrup. Ms. Titus, you are recognized for five
minutes.
Ms. Titus. Thank you. Thank you all for being here. I am a
long-time professor at UNLV, and often have veterans in my
classes, and appreciate what they bring to that setting, and to
the university.
I know at last Congress we addressed the question of out-
of-state tuition. Some of the states already allowed veterans
to pay in-state tuition and then that made it nationally, but
if we didn't include those from Samoa, we should certainly go
back and take a look at that.
Also I was just going to say that I completely agree with
the Ranking Member's concern about taking remedial courses and
being brought up to speed so that you can succeed once you
start taking the regular course work or whatever major you
choose.
One of things that has been pointed out to me is the
problem with the housing benefit. If you go to college and
start your housing benefit when you are taking the remedial
course, it will run out before you finish taking the whole
degree program, so we ought to look at that benefit as it
connects with the GI Bill and I look forward to working with
you on that. We have had several conversations about that.
Another thing is the Student Veterans Association at UNLV
is a great resource, I work with them often. And one of the
things that they brought to my attention is the problem with
the need for childcare, especially women veterans going back to
school and do not have any access to childcare. Many
universities do not provide it on the campus, and the GI Bill
does not give you any benefit.
So I am trying to look for ways that we can perhaps do some
benefit for childcare while you are in school. And I wondered
if you all would work with me on that, if you have any
suggestions, if you think that this is a worthwhile way to go,
if you have heard about yourselves on your campuses. We can
start with Mr. Neiweem and whoever might want to weigh in, I
would appreciate it.
Mr. Withrow. If I could just to start with. Two of our four
colleges have childcare centers. And it becomes very meaningful
if we have a veteran who is married and has children, and the
wife is the provider, the financial provider. The childcare
becomes a very important element in terms of that veteran
succeeding and being able to focus on education as opposed to a
lot of the hierarchy of needs, if you will.
Mr. Barker. Ma'am, my campus is a four-year state
institution in the State of Colorado and we are very fortunate
that we have an early childhood education program as one of
course offerings. And in that program we have a couple of
childcare centers on our campus, and specifically our student
veterans, just about a year ago, were granted access and awards
to that childcare, and it was a significant impact on the
retention rates and course completion rates for our student
veterans after we implemented access to that childcare on our
campus. So I think that you are absolutely right.
The childcare, regardless of the gender of the parent,
childcare is a significant issue that could really oftentimes
is a show stopper for our student veterans on our campuses.
Mr. Neiweem. I would just say I think that is something--a
great thing for Congress to consider. I mean our members' needs
are usually based on the geography and what is available. I
mean some universities have got great veteran services, others
are more limited to their budgets. So it is probably a
budgetary consideration, but certainly many of our members
would benefit from that type of option to focus on their
studies while they are trying to balance the needs of having a
family because we know they are usually older students.
Mr. Kelley. For the sake of time, the VFW supports you,
will work with you to find solutions.
Ms. Titus. Right. We have to figure out kind of how to
structure it, but I think it is something that can be done that
we need to work on. Yes?
Mr. Neiweem. And I know in our location we do have an
outside agency that we partner with, The Volunteers of America,
and they do have a grant for female veterans for not only
childcare, but if they need assistance getting to and from job
interview. They do provide rides, they do provide bus passes,
and they do provide gas cards if that veteran, female veteran,
does not have the funds to do so.
One of our challenges is just to get it out to the
population because they are sitting on money and they need
people to participate in it. And we are trying to do everything
on our part to get that out to our female veteran, population.
Ms. Titus. Well, thank you. I just know that the veterans
would be better able to take advantage of the educational
opportunities and the employment opportunities if they had that
assistance with childcare, so that is what we want to work. I
appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Dr. Wenstrup. Thank you. I want to thank you all for being
here today, not only for the information that you brought, but
the information that you shared with us in responding to our
questions. Your dedication to our veterans, of course, is
greatly appreciated.
We will excuse this panel at this time. We have been called
to vote, so for the second panel, General Worley, we will come
back in probably about 35 minutes or so, and resume. Again I
want to thank you all for being here today with us.
I now invite our second and final panel to the witness
table. Joining us Major General Robert Worley, director of VA's
education service. I want to thank you for being with us today,
I really do. And for many years of service in uniform in the
Air Force. And I look forward to hearing from you. You are now
recognized for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF ROBERT M. WORLEY II
Mr. Worley. Good afternoon, Chairman Wenstrup, Ranking
Member Takano, and other distinguished Members of the
subcommittee.
I am pleased to be here today to discuss the Department of
Veterans Affairs education benefit programs and our ongoing
efforts to ensure education benefits are administered
appropriately and accurately.
My testimony will highlight the status of our
implementation of the President's Executive Order, 13607,
Public Law 112-249, and Sections 701 and 702 of the Choice Act.
I will also touch on VA's information technology systems
supporting our education programs.
VA's education programs provide education and training
benefits to eligible Service members, Veterans, dependents, and
survivors. These programs are designed to assist Veterans in
readjusting to civilian life, to help the armed forces both
recruit and retain members, and enhance the nation's economic
competitiveness.
The Post-9/11 GI Bill, or Chapter 33, greatly expanded
education benefits with the enactment of Public Law 110-252,
effective August 1st, 2009. This program provides Veterans,
Service members, dependents, and survivors with educational
assistance in the form of tuition and fees, a housing
allowance, and a books and supplies stipend to assist them in
reaching their educational and vocational goals. The Post-9/11
GI Bill is by far the most utilized of VA's education programs.
Since the program began, VA has issued approximately $50
billion in benefits to 1.4 million individuals and their
educational institutions. The other education benefit programs
VA administers have been fairly consistent or have experienced
reductions in recent years as measured by numbers of trainees
and dollars issued.
The Executive Order on Principles of Excellence and Public
Law 112-249 on improving transparency of educational
opportunities were both intended to strengthen oversight,
enforcement, and accountability within the Veteran and military
educational benefit programs, as well as improve outreach and
transparency to Veterans and Service members by providing
information on educational institutions.
These important efforts were implemented through a strong
and effective inter-agency collaboration between VA, the
Department of Defense, and the Department of Education, in
consultation with the Department of Justice, the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau, and the National Association of
State Approving Agencies. Over 6,100 campuses have voluntarily
agreed to comply with the Principles of Excellence.
Much has been accomplished through this work to both better
inform and better protect Veterans and family members using
educational benefits including: Registering as a Trademark the
term ``GI Bill;'' development of a financial aid shopping
sheet; development of Veteran outcome measures, and
implementation of a centralized complaint system.
Further, as a result of these efforts, VA launched an
online vocational and academic assessment tool called Career
Scope, as well as the GI Bill Comparison Tool, which enables
prospective students to compare educational institutions using
key measures of affordability and value through access to
school performance information and consumer protection
information. As of March 4th, 2015, there have been over
846,000 unique visitors and over one million page views.
Section 701 of the Choice Act expands the Fry Scholarship
to include surviving spouses of service members who died in the
line of duty on or after September 11th, of 2001. VA began
accepting applications for this extended benefit on November
3rd, of 2014, and as of March 2nd, VA has received 805
applications.
Section 702 of the Choice Act requires VA to disapprove
educational programs under the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the
Montgomery GI Bill Active Duty at public institutions if they
charge covered individuals tuition or fees in excess of
resident rates for terms beginning after July 1, 2015. In late
October 2014, VA sent a letter to all the Governors outlining
these requirements and requesting information on the state's
ability to meet requirements in advance of July 1st.
All states and territories have indicated a commitment to
comply with the law and are in various stages of either
legislative or policy development and approval. VA has provided
extensive technical assistance to numerous states and is
working in close partnership with the state approving agencies
to facilitate timely compliance with this law.
The Long-Term Solution is the Post-9/11 GI Bill Claims
Processing Solution. In September 2012, VA implemented end-to-
end automation of supplemental Post-9/11 GI Bill Claims. This
was a game changer. In Fiscal Year 2014, 51 percent of all
Post-9/11 GI Bill supplemental claims were fully automated and
another 30 percent were partially automated. As a result,
original claims processing timeliness has improved from 30.5
days in Fiscal Year 2012 to 17 days in Fiscal Year 2014. And
supplemental processing timeliness has improved from 16.5 days
to six days in 2014.
Veterans' hard earned educational benefits are the vehicle
by which many of our nation's heroes pursue their career goals
and successfully transition to civilian life. VA is fully
committed to ensuring timely access and delivery of these
benefits and to ensuring Veterans are well-informed decision
makers concerning the use of these benefits.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement, and I look
forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Robert Worley appears in the
Appendix]
Dr. Wenstrup. Well, thank you very much, General. At this
time, I yield myself five minutes for questions. We talked--you
spoke today about compliance with in-state tuition and that
provision of the Choice Act. And as I understand, there are
four states, I believe, that are in compliance at this time?
Mr. Worley. That is correct, sir.
Dr. Wenstrup. Okay. And you have received some notices from
the majority of other states that they intend to comply by July
1st. Any idea what that number is, how many say they think they
will have it done by then?
Mr. Worley. Mr. Chairman, at one level or another, we have
received indication of intent to comply from all states and
territories. It is just we have only heard formally from about
33 states and the District of Columbia. Formally, meaning, we
got a letter back from the Governor's office or the appropriate
authority in that state. Others, we have actually talked with
or in some cases provided technical assistance with their
legislative proposals or their policy language, and they are
moving through their processes.
Dr. Wenstrup. Now, I am just wondering, as are other
people, about the notion that there may be a waiver out there.
Are they dragging their feet or are they trying to go full
steam ahead to get this done by what is in law, or are they
just kind of banking on a waiver? I do not expect--I am not
asking you----
Mr. Worley. No----
Dr. Wenstrup [continuing]. To try to read their mind a
little bit. I understand that. What is your gut feeling on some
of that?
Mr. Worley. Mr. Chairman, what I would say is that our full
effort and focus when the law was passed was first to make sure
we understood it completely in discussions with our General
Counsel and then more aggressively to get it out to the states
and make sure they understand it. There are nuances to this law
that need to be understood for a state to actually become
compliant.
As you well know, many states have some level of a
provision for either in-state tuition or other types of
benefits for Veterans, but many of those states do not comply
with every aspect of Section 702, for example, the three years
from discharge requirement and other provisions. So we are
working very closely and focused our effort on helping states
become compliant.
With respect, you are right, the Secretary does have a
waiver authority. We have not had that discussion with the
Secretary yet, so he has made no decision on whether to offer a
waiver, but those discussions should be happening very soon.
Dr. Wenstrup. Well, that was going to be my next question,
where are we, really, with that in the potential----
Mr. Worley. Yes, sir.
Dr. Wenstrup [continuing]. For a waiver? In the four states
that were able to get it done, why were they able to get it
done? I mean, is there something about that state and the
system that they had in place already that made it simple for
them, or did they just get on it?
Mr. Worley. Well, the first state that was compliant was
Texas. In fact, they had legislation that had already been put
in place; At first, we did not think they were compliant, and
it was a matter of having discussions with them on how they
define certain terms that are in the law. So we really get down
to some of the technicalities with respect to definitions of
uniformed services or armed forces or dependent or spouse or
those types of things. So I think these states just got after
it and got it done.
Dr. Wenstrup. Are you saying then, that Texas already had
legislation in their state that allowed for in-state tuition
for any veteran? Did they do that on their own, in the state?
Mr. Worley. Yes.
Dr. Wenstrup. Okay.
Mr. Worley. Yes.
Dr. Wenstrup. Okay. I can see where----
Mr. Worley. That is my understanding.
Dr. Wenstrup [contuning]. That would make a difference for
them. Now, what plans does the VA have in place to finish the
Long-Term Solution and finally get all original claims fully
automated? How is that going at this point, do you think?
Mr. Worley. As I mentioned, the long-term solution is a
great success story. When the Post-9/11 GI Bill was enacted, it
was virtually from pretty much a dead start as far as the lack
of technology to implement the system. So it was very
rudimentary at first.
We have had six major software releases over the last three
years, culminating in, as I mentioned, September of '12 is when
we put into place the final software release for the Long-Term
Solution, which allows about 50 percent, a little over 50
percent, of the Post-9/11 GI Bill enrollment claims, which is
80 to 85 percent of our work to be processed untouched by human
hands through a rules-based technology.
So it has been, as I mentioned, a game changer. It has been
a huge success. And so we have--all the benefit types have had
dramatic decreases in terms of their average processing days
because of this Long-Term Solution.
The plan, since March of 2013, the development activity has
been in a sustainment mode. There has been no additional
funding to do any further automation, but we know that is in a
proposed piece of legislation from you and we will be talking
more about that next week.
Dr. Wenstrup. Okay. Thank you. Mr. Takano, you now have
five minutes.
Mr. Takano. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Worley, could you
provide us with an update on the VA's implementation of the
Principles of Excellence included in the President's executive
order? I am particularly interested in what exactly the VA is
doing that requires schools to ``end fraudulent and unduly
aggressive recruiting techniques,'' and when you will begin
risk-based program reviews, and how you plan to deal with the
backlog of student Veteran complaints that I have heard is
becoming an issue?
Mr. Worley. Thank you. That is a lot, Ranking Member
Takano. First of all, with respect to ending fraudulent
recruiting practices, there are number of aspects to that. One
of the aspects to that is our efforts to register as a
trademark the term ``Post-9/11 GI Bill'' or ``GI Bill,'' that
happened in 2013.
And what that has done is helped give us a tool and an
enforcement against those who would put out on websites, and
represent as official websites, information about the GI Bill.
The authorized users of the term are VSOs and, of course, GI
Bill schools and the state approving agencies. But we have been
working to enforce that, and we have actually had to issue some
cease and desist types of letters to Web site owners.
For schools in particular, this is something that is
reviewed at compliance, when we go around and do compliance
surveys. In the last three years--and we are on the same track
this year, we do about 5,000 compliance surveys at educational
institutions, the GI Bill-approved institutions. Marketing,
recruiting practices, and advertising and those type of things
are reviewed during those compliance surveys. And they might
come up either through that review of their records, as well as
in our discussions and interviews with veterans.
I am sorry, the third part of your question on the
complaint?
Mr. Takano. Yeah, when----
Mr. Worley. The risk-based program reviews?
Mr. Takano. It says when will you begin risk----
Mr. Worley. Yes.
Mr. Takano [contuning]. Based program reviews?
Mr. Worley. We have begun those. We began those very
shortly, within months, after the complaint system was
implemented in January of last year. Depending on when the
complaints come in, the VA reviews those and triages them. The
more serious ones, we will then direct a risk-based program
review at that school. And we have done 46 of those. Six of
those schools that we have done risk-based program reviews at
have been withdrawn from GI Bill approval.
Mr. Takano. How does the VA verify whether institutions
have agreed to abide by the Principles of Excellence in the
executive order, how do you verify that they are actually in
compliance?
Mr. Worley. First of all, they just sign up with us.
Originally, when the executive order was first signed, we asked
them that basically they let us know their intent to comply.
What we have done again in our compliance survey enforcement,
we have added an addendum to that checklist, if you will, that
procedure that looks at all the aspects of the Principles of
Excellence, so when we go to visit the school, we check on
their compliance with the POE.
Mr. Takano. What happens if they do not adhere to the
Principles of Excellence, do they lose their GI Bill
eligibility?
Mr. Worley. Because the Principles of Excellence, which
have been implemented only in the last couple of years, we have
taken the approach during our compliance surveys of really
trying to help people understand the implementation and to
assist them in becoming fully compliant and understanding what
the requirements are.
Ultimately, down the road, if they are not compliant with
the principles and continue to be that way, we would certainly
remove them from the GI Bill Comparison Tool as far as a
signatory to the Principles of Excellence. Depending on the
nature of why they are not compliant, if it is a serious
offense, then we would be looking at either suspending or
withdrawing that school. But if it is a more administrative
kind of discrepancy, then it would be more an administrative
result.
Mr. Takano. Great. Can you please explain how the GI Bill
benefits are affected by remedial courses and what happens if a
student fails a remedial class?
Mr. Worley. Remedial classes, what we call remedial
refresher or deficiency classes, are covered by the Post-9/11
GI Bill benefits and the other legacy benefit types. As you
know, the charge, there is an entitlement charge associated
with that. And if someone is not successful at those course,
they are able to retake them.
Mr. Takano. All right. Thank you. My time is up, sir.
Dr. Wenstrup. Want to do another round?
Mr. Worley. Sure.
Dr. Wenstrup. General, with the GI Bill Comparison Tool, do
you think it is making it easier for Veterans to choose a
school? Is it being effective? What kind of feedback are you
getting on that?
Mr. Worley. Mr. Chairman, we are getting good feedback and
most of the feedback is, we want more of it. So as I mentioned,
the number of page views and that kind of thing, we would
certainly like it to be even more widely used.
We think it will get even more use as time goes on and as
we add more functionality to it. But it is a great tool. It
brings together multiple different sources, multiple pages that
a Veteran would have to go to otherwise, or a prospective GI
Bill user, and provide some really good information. We are
looking to enhance that functionality this year as well.
Dr. Wenstrup. Is it helping them from the standpoint that,
you know, they may be looking at originally 20 schools, but now
they go here and now they are down to three, so they do not go
visit 20 schools? I mean, I am just trying to think how they
are using it effectively, because, you know, I do not think
most people when they are making that step for a college that
they just choose online, per se.
Mr. Worley. Right.
Dr. Wenstrup. That there is a visit involved, and so what
are they gaining the most, do you think?
Mr. Worley. Well, the beauty and intent really of this
Comparison Tool is really twofold. One, it streamlines that
process that you are talking about as far as looking, where do
I go to look at things. But it appeals to the Veteran, because
that is what it is for.
It has Veteran information about schools, Veteran specific
information, about schools that, we think a Veteran would
consider to be important, such as is there a Veteran Success on
Campus counselor there? Is there a Veteran Service Organization
of some type? Are they signatories to the 8 keys to Veterans'
success, the Principles of Excellence, and those types of
things? And they are able to compare three schools at a time
side by side to look at that information.
We have also recently put on the complaint information, so
a Veteran can see if the school has had a number of complaints
against it.
Dr. Wenstrup. So on there, I just have witnessed it
briefly, does it list whether a school is in compliance with
the in-state tuition requirement?
Mr. Worley. That is not on there presently, but that is
certainly something that we envision putting on something like
a school profile page that would also include outcome measures
and other school links and other information. But while we are
in the process of implementing and helping to facilitate
compliance with Section 702, we will be soon putting that on
the GI Bill website, a kind of a tracking of what states are
complying and what aren't. But we will ultimately put that on
the GI Bill Comparison Tool, yes, sir.
Dr. Wenstrup. And it might be motivating to the schools if
it is on there or not.
Mr. Worley. Agreed.
Dr. Wenstrup. Also, I am just curious if the VA does not
grant a state or school, what steps are taken to inform
students that their school did not comply? What steps do you
think you are going to need to take?
Mr. Worley. Well, of course, sir, our first priority is to
get states' compliant, to help them do that--and of course with
the most important goal being no disruption to any of the
beneficiaries in their use of the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
But the law requires if a state is not compliant and there
is no waiver in place, we will have to disapprove those
programs, not just for the covered individuals identified in
the law, but for all Chapter 30, all Montgomery GI Bill, and
Post-9/11 GI Bill users in those programs. So the stakes are
high.
Dr. Wenstrup. Yes, it sounds like if there is no waivers,
the schools in Texas and the three other states can start
building some new dorms, because they will be the ones that are
getting all the students. But I appreciate that and thank you
for answering my questions, and I yield to Mr. Takano.
Mr. Takano. Can you just tell me, is the VA working on
trying to lessen the impact of remedial classes on student
veterans in terms of--I mean, I know there is a charge against
the entitlement, and is there a limit, a cap, on that charge
against the entitlement?
Mr. Worley. I do not know of any limit mentioned by the
previous Panel Member regarding how many hours someone can take
in remedial classes, but the entitlement charge is something
that is in statute and require legislative action to change
that.
You may be aware of the Dependents' Educational Assistance
program, DEA, offers five months of remedial, an opportunity
for remedial classes, without a charge toward the benefit, but
we would be happy to work with the Committee if you want to go
down that road.
Mr. Takano. I want to know about this and, unfortunately, I
have to get going. But I am going to yield back the rest of my
time, but I appreciate the Chairman going through allowing a
second round of questions.
Dr. Wenstrup. Well, if there are no further questions, I
want to thank everyone here today for taking time to come and
share your views on improving education opportunities for our
veterans. I now ask unanimous consent that the statements from
The American Legion, Veterans Education Success, School
Advocates for Veterans Education and Success, and the RAND
Corporation be submitted for the record. Hearing no objections,
so ordered.
Finally, I ask unanimous consent that all members have five
legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material. Without objections, so ordered. The
hearing is now adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:35 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
APPENDIX
Prepared Statement of Ranking Member Mark Takano
We live in a moment in history where one half of one percent of our
nation is serving in the military. Compare that to the 12 percent that
served during World War II. There is a growing gap between the shared
experiences of those who've served versus those who haven't. Many
veterans enter colleges and face a range of issues not faced by their
classmates. They may be older than their fellow classmates, outside of
the classroom environment for a longer time, and in many instances, the
first member of their family to set foot into a college environment.
We can all agree education benefits are earned for veterans'
selfless service to our country. But what does that mean? Does it mean
that veterans have the right to receive this benefit and expend it
anyway they see fit? Or did Congress intend for this benefit to assist
veterans in a successful transition into the civilian workforce?
As most people in this room are aware, our veterans perform in a
wide range of occupations while in the military. In the Army for
instance, for every fighting soldier there are 2.5 soldiers providing
support in the rear. These supportive roles can be in logistics,
administration, or preparing and serving food. This means that the
country and the VA must serve veterans with a wide range of experience.
Some experience transfers well into educational environments while
others do not.
To all of them I say, we have your back. As a former educator I am
a believer in the power of education. Those who choose to pursue an
education should feel good about their choice and where it will lead
them.
I want to take a moment to commend my colleagues who introduced and
supported the Transparency Act. This bipartisan legislation from the
112th Congress paved the way for much needed insight into the quality
of different schools and will continue to provide more insight over the
coming years. For instance, the legislation required VA's GI Bill
comparison tool which servicemembers are already using to understand
which schools best fit their needs, cost too much, and clarify
institutions that may be a poor choice in comparison to others.
I also want to highlight a piece of legislation I recently joined
Congresswoman Lois Frankel and Congressman Gus Bilirakis in introducing
the Veteran Education Empowerment Act. This bill would re-authorize and
improve a grant program through the Department of Education that
provides colleges and universities across the country with the funds
necessary to establish new Veteran Student Centers and to improve and
operate existing ones.
However, we still have work to do. Our Nation's heroes are being
sold the idea that all they need to do is get a degree from anywhere
and jobs will be presented to them on a silver platter. Too many times
I have heard the story of the soldier who uses his or her education
benefits at questionable and expensive schools, only to find that
employers aren't impressed. We as a country, and more importantly, the
states, have a role to play in insisting that institutions provide
positive outcomes for veterans. We also have a fiscal duty, to ensure
that government dollars are not being misspent, at higher educational
rates, with substandard outcomes.
To those who are struggling to complete their educations, we have
another obligation. In 2014, over 83 thousand students using the GI
Bill had to take remedial courses while exhausting their education
benefits. Some also take on debt before they receive a diploma; a
situation the Post 9/11 GI Bill was intended to avoid. We need to help
servicemembers and veterans understand and address their education gaps
prior to exhausting their education benefits; ideally, while they are
serving in the military.
And I thank the witnesses with us today for being here to give us
their insight into these important issues and I look forward to their
testimony.
I yield back.
Prepared Statement of Terence Harrison
Good afternoon. I'd like to thank Chairman Wenstrup, Ranking Member
Takano, and Members of the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity for
inviting me to participate in today's hearing on the Department of
Veterans Affairs' (VA) administration and its education programs, as
well as the educational and training needs of our newest generation of
veterans.
My name is Terence Harrison and I am the Manager for Veterans
Programs and Services at the University of Cincinnati. The University
of Cincinnati, or ``UC,'' is a public research university, enrolling
more than 43,600 undergraduate and graduate students in 2014. Our
campus is made up of students from all 50 states and from 100 countries
around the world. Recognized as a Military Friendly School, UC is both
a leader and champion in military and veteran related issues.
Currently, UC enrolls about 2,250 military-affiliated students,
including active duty military, members of the National Guard and the
Reserves, veterans, and family members. Of this total, 1,007 students
are using GI Bill benefits, as of the fall 2014 semester. With the
anticipated draw-down of active duty personnel, the University of
Cincinnati is energetically positioning itself to accommodate these
students. UC adheres closely to the VA's principles of excellence in
providing a high-quality educational experience tailored to the unique
needs of veteran students.
UC has instituted a number of resources and programs to best assist
our youngest generation of veterans. To assist veteran students with
administrative needs on campus, UC has a centralized veterans' ``one-
stop shop'' located in the same building as Admissions and
Registration. With most of our student services for veterans in the
same building, these students do not need to navigate a large campus to
find the right offices to meet their needs.
To foster a sense of community and ensure a smooth transition to
civilian life, UC is home to the Ohio Beta chapter of Omega Delta
Sigma. This co-ed, veteran-only fraternity has assisted countless
veterans in their transition to the University of Cincinnati by
providing social support and peer to peer mentoring.
Additionally, to assist prospective students and current recipients
of the Post 9/11 GI Bill, we are pleased the VA has developed the GI
Bill Comparison Tool and the VA feedback system. Allowing students to
compare their benefits across institutions is a valuable tool. To
ensure that our veteran students continue to understand and best
utilize their GI Bill benefits upon enrolling, the University of
Cincinnati boasts a VetSuccess on Campus Counselor. This resource
allows veterans to have any GI Bill related questions answered in a
timely manner. UC is one of only three Ohio schools with such a
counselor.
To meet the medical needs of veteran students, UC's proximity to
the VA hospital allows for students to quickly receive any required
medical services. UC is a partner with the VA sponsored Veterans
Integration to Academic Leadership program. Veterans with psychological
issues can meet with a VA clinical psychologist on campus, or if they
choose, the VA Hospital. Additionally, the University of Cincinnati's
Center of Psychological Services has a professionally trained and
licensed staff that can address the needs of student veterans free of
charge.
In addition to these campus-based services, UC remains on the
cutting-edge of interdisciplinary research and training that benefits
the nation's active duty military, veterans, and their families. For
instance, University of Cincinnati is participating in a joint study
with the VA, regarding the lingering effects of Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder. This ongoing study, which opened in 2010, is charged with
seeing which types of therapy would be beneficial to those veterans who
experience PTSD. UC also fosters strong partnerships with the military,
including the Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills, or
C-STARS, a joint training program between the Air Force and the
University of Cincinnati Medical Center. C-STARS pairs both civilian
and Air Force medical professionals in trauma and critical care through
simulation training.
The University of Cincinnati is also an active participant in the
Tri-State VETS educational group. This group is comprised of veteran
representatives from nine universities and colleges across the region
and meets quarterly to discuss best practices. Additionally, they
develop programs that will improve the quality of life for the veterans
on their respective campuses.
With regard to the implementation of section 701 of the Veterans
Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014, UC does not anticipate
any obstacles in offering the Fry Scholarship to spouses of deceased or
permanently disabled veterans. At UC, we currently have three students
receiving the Fry Scholarship.
And as for implementing section 702, UC has offered in-State
tuition to all student veterans since 2009. Because of the Ohio GI
Promise, all the veteran has to do is show proof of residency (utility
bill, lease statement, etc . . . ) and the school will immediately
grant in-state tuition. One problem that is slowly eroding is that the
veteran does not realize that they have to apply for residency.
This has been a priority for us for years and I encourage all
schools seeking to meet the requirements to look to UC as an example.
In closing, I want to thank you for allowing me to share the great
work that the University of Cincinnati is doing to accommodate current
and future veteran students and their families. I look forward to
working with you as you expand services for veteran students and again
offer the University of Cincinnati as an example to inform policy and
to guide schools in shaping their programs.
I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.
Prepared Statement of Raymond C. Kelley
Chairman Wenstrup, Ranking Member Takano and members of the
Subcommittee, on behalf of the men and women of the Veterans of Foreign
Wars of the United States (VFW) and our Auxiliaries, I want to thank
you for the opportunity to present the VFW's perspective on veterans'
education programs.
Over the past few years the VFW has worked with this subcommittee
to improve the higher education landscape for college-bound veterans
through initiatives like the transition assistance program (TAP)
mandate; establishing quality consumer resources for student veterans;
and passing a reasonable in-state tuition protection for recently-
transitioned service members and eligible dependent beneficiaries.
Though these initiatives have the ability to improve college-
readiness, improve access to a quality, low-cost education, and
safeguard student veterans against fraud, waste, and abuse, the VFW
remains concerned that far too few eligible veterans take advantage of
their earned education benefits, and that veterans who believe they
were treated unfairly in higher education still lack viable mechanisms
for swift intervention and issue adjudication.
For the balance of our testimony we will focus on ways that these
recent initiatives have improved access and accountability for student
veterans within higher education, but we will also focus on ways to
further improve the system.
Consumer Resources
Three years ago the VFW approached this subcommittee with concerns
that veterans were either unaware of how to use their earned education
benefits, forgoing higher education, or worse, using their benefits for
programs of questionable quality that would not help them achieve their
career goals. In early 2013, Congress finally passed the Improving
Transparency in Education for Veterans Act, offering improved consumer
resources and consumer protections for student veterans by directing VA
to identify an off-the-shelf comparison tool through which veterans
could easily compare institutions of higher learning; as well as
commissioning a centralized veterans' feedback system through which
veterans could report incidents of potential fraud, waste, and abuse.
In January 2014, VA deployed their new GI Bill Comparison Tool and
GI Bill Consumer Feedback System, and the VFW has worked with VA ever
since on consistent improvements to both systems. In its infancy, the
Comparison Tool consolidated resources from 17 different web pages
across three federal agencies into a single online system where
veterans could easily find institutional characteristics to help drive
informed decision-making. In the ensuing year, the Comparison Tool has
undergone several significant redesigns, adding new features like a GI
Bill cost calculator, and most recently, the inclusion of student
veteran feedback and veteran-specific performance data.
The Comparison Tool is a reliable source of information for
college-bound veterans, but the VFW continues to worry that not enough
veterans use the system prior to selecting where they want to use their
benefits. Since its deployment, the GI Bill Feedback System has
collected 2,254 complaints from student veterans on the institutions
they attend. The VFW believes that this is positive, considering that
more than 900,000 veterans are currently enrolled in some kind of GI
Bill program.
In January, VA published its first report on the GI Bill Feedback
System, where VA disclosed that only 312 had been adjudicated to date.
This figure is what concerns the VFW. We recognize that not all
complaints will be actionable, and that nearly half of all complaints
registered to the GI Bill Feedback System are related to basic benefit
eligibility, and not to problems with a specific school. However, the
rate at which VA and its partners are able to triage and respond to
complaints is a major concern.
First, the VFW is worried that slow response times will only result
in more harm to veterans who are waiting for their concern to be
addressed. Complaints logged through the GI Bill Feedback System are
supposed to trigger risked-based program reviews for schools where
credible complaints start to mount. To date, VA has only conducted 42
program reviews based on the GI Bill Feedback System. With more than
1,100 complaints awaiting triage, the VFW worries that VA and its
partners do not have the capability to respond in a timely manner.
Sadly, time is not a luxury that student veterans have, since
benefits only last for 36 months of enrollment. VA must have the
ability to validate and respond to complaints in a timely manner,
otherwise bad practices that may have been reported by veterans will
only continue unabated. Moreover, the way in which VA adjudicates
complaints has a direct impact on the GI Bill Comparison Tool, since
the Comparison Tool now relies on VA's validation and adjudication of
complaints in order to publish credible feedback on an institution.
Fortunately, both the Comparison Tool and Feedback System remain
marked improvements. The VFW believes these resources have the
potential to ensure that veterans remain informed and empowered
consumers, capable of choosing quality education programs that will
help them to achieve their career goals.
Issues Related to Processing
In 2013, the VFW stood up 1 Student Veteran as a resource for
veterans who have questions or an unresolved complaint with their
educational benefits. The vast majority of the inquiries we receive are
directed toward eligibility and paying for college. However, the most
concerning inquiries we receive deal with VA benefit overpayment and
debt collection.
Answering questions regarding eligibility are generally straight
forward. When student veterans call with concerns regarding financing
their education, we ensure they have discussed any available options at
their school and direct them to specific scholarship and financial aid
options. But when a veteran calls about an overpayment and subsequent
debt collection, resolving the issue is not as easy.
Overpayments happen most often when a student-veteran's enrollment
status changes. If a student opts to change from full time to part
time, and his or her university fails to notify VA of the change in
status, the student-veteran will continue to receive the full living
stipend and the university will continue to be paid the full-time rate
for tuition. When this happens, VA sends a notification of overpayment
and provides a couple options for repayment. If the veteran is unable
to make a timely repayment, their debt is sent to collections and VA
will garnish payments until the debt is repaid.
The VFW believes veterans should be responsible for repaying the
overpayment, but often times they have limited resources and
immediately paying out of pocket can be a struggle. To eliminate this
stress, the VFW proposes presenting veterans with three options for
repayment when they are notified of the overpayment. They can either
elect to have the overpayment immediately garnished from their next
stipend payments, arrange to have the overpayment repaid over several
months, or have their months of eligibility reduced by the number of
months that must be repaid. If the veteran leaves his or her education
program before the debt is repaid or they withdraw before they use the
entirety of their benefit, they would be obligated to repay VA the
difference of the overpayment. This will allow veterans some
flexibility in repaying the debt without the fear of falling behind
financially.
Transition Assistance Program
In concert with the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) mandate,
the Department of Defense was tasked with designing three voluntary
track curricula for transitioning service members, to include the
Accessing Higher Education track. Since its launch in 2013, the
Accessing Higher Education track has also gone through several
iterations, ensuring that it can adequately prepare transitioning
service members to make informed educational choices. The VFW readily
acknowledges that TAP in its current form is a significant improvement
over past iterations of TAP, and we applaud DoD and its partners for
their work on the Accessing Higher Education track.
However, the VFW remains concerned that many transitioning service
members will not have access to a classroom-proctored discussion as
part of TAP. As the VFW visits military installations, we continue to
hear that small unit commanders remain reluctant to allow junior
transitioning service members to participate in TAP. Even though TAP is
now a commander's program, the VFW believes that some military
commanders still fail to take TAP seriously. In our visits to
transition sites, this is not as much of an issue for mid-career
service members or retirees. However, it has a direct impact on the
transition of first-term enlisted service members, who likely need the
training the most.
During the VFW's recent legislative conference, one of our
inaugural VFW-SVA Legislative Fellows recalled his experience
transitioning in 2012. He was aware of the TAP mandate, and his unit
commanders took it seriously. However, his immediate supervisor, a
Marine Corps E-5, discouraged him and his other colleagues from taking
time away from unit business to participate in transition activities.
Examples like this are why the VFW supported last year's provision
to make participation in the Accessing Higher Education track mandatory
for college-bound transitioning service members. However, the VFW
acknowledges that this is not necessarily a problem that can be solved
solely through policy initiatives, but will likely take a major
cultural shift within the military. With that in mind, the VFW
continues to advocate for consistently delivering transitional training
throughout the military lifecycle, and ensuring veterans still have
access to training and resources after leaving the military.
DoD and its partners have already taken steps to accomplish this by
making every TAP module available on a public-facing Web site for
veterans to use as a reference guide. However, this is no substitute
for proctored discussions in a classroom setting.
In-State Tuition Protection
Over the past few years, the VFW has recognized that veterans'
prior military service often inhibited access to the quality, cost-
effective education offered by many public colleges and universities.
Simply put, the transience of military life often precluded recently-
separated service members and their dependents from satisfying strict
residency and physical presence requirements for many public schools to
offer in-state tuition.
Most recently, the VFW has heard from several veterans in
California through our 1 Student Veteran initiative who reported that
while they were legal residents of California while serving in the
military, duty assignments precluded them from receiving in-state
tuition at the public colleges that were directly supported by their
tax dollars. Fortunately, this summer, this will no longer be allowed.
Through the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act (VACAA)
passed last summer, public colleges and universities that do not offer
in-state tuition to veterans and their GI Bill-eligible dependents
within three years of separation from the military will no longer be
allowed to participate in the GI Bill. Over the past three years, the
VFW has worked diligently on a state-by-state level to push for
favorable in-state tuition policies for veterans. By the time VACAA was
signed into law, more than 20 states had agreed to extend in-state
tuition to their veterans.
However, the VACAA protection is not without its implementation
roadblocks. The original legislation offered states two years to come
into compliance with the mandate. However, by the time the legislative
process ran its course, the compliance window was reduced to less than
a year. Moreover, the state-by-state efforts of the VFW and our
partners had only primed states to accept veterans as in-state
students, meaning that many states had not made considerations for GI
Bill-eligible dependents.
If states and public university systems do not come into compliance
by July, these two roadblocks have the potential to lock out certain
veterans and eligible dependents from certain public programs.
Fortunately, the VFW sees positive momentum on behalf of states who
wish to come into compliance by the deadline. The VFW only knows of a
handful of states whose legislative processes may not allow for
compliance by the start of the coming academic year. However, the VFW
does support offering limited waivers to such states and educational
systems, allowing them to still participate in the GI Bill, with the
caveat that they must come into compliance no later than July 2016.
In recent months, the VFW has conducted meetings with the State
Approving Agencies, the National Governors Association, and the
National Association of State Legislatures in an effort to gauge
concerns at the state level. We are encouraged by what we have heard
and are confident that states will take the necessary steps to comply.
In an effort to further encourage compliance and dispel myths about
the new in-state tuition protection, the VFW has also developed a one-
pager for use by our local advocates, who serve as the VFW's voice in
state government. As the compliance deadline draws closer, the VFW
intends to keep its pulse on developments, and we encourage this
subcommittee to do the same, holding VA and its partners accountable
for fostering compliance.
Chairman Wenstrup, Ranking Member Takano, this concludes my
testimony and I am happy to answer any questions you may have.
Information Required by Rule XI2(g)(4) of the House of
Representatives
Pursuant to Rule XI2(g)(4) of the House of Representatives, VFW has
not received any federal grants in Fiscal Year 2014, nor has it
received any federal grants in the two previous Fiscal Years.
The VFW has not received payments or contracts from any foreign
governments in the current year or preceding two calendar years.
Prepared Statement of Marc A. Barker
Introduction
Chairman Wenstrup, Ranking Member Takano, and members of the
Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, the National Association of
Veterans Program Administrators (NAVPA) is pleased to be invited to
provide comments for this ``review of higher education opportunities
for the newest generation of veterans.'' NAVPA is a nationally
recognized nonprofit organization founded in 1975 by school certifying
officials. Our organization represents close to 400 educational
institutions nationwide. We voluntarily serve NAVPA in an effort to
better serve the veterans on our campuses.
NAVPA recognizes the significant higher education opportunities
that are afforded this generation of veterans. We are committed, in
partnership with the Department of Veterans' Affairs, to ensure the
success of the programs funded to provide educational opportunities for
our veterans and their family members.
GI Bill Comparison Tool
A year ago, in March of 2014, Student Veterans of America published
the Million Records Project. One of the clear observations that emerged
from the data in this study was the unique non-traditional education
pathways that veterans take. Student veterans are more likely to
transfer or change institutions, and take longer than traditional
college students to complete their education credentials. This makes
defining success and measuring outcomes for veterans challenging.
The GI Bill Comparison Tool is an important breakthrough in
providing information to potential student veterans. However, it has
significant limitations. The graduation rate used in the tool, is the
Department of Education's metric, based on the Integrated Postsecondary
Education Data System (iPEDS). The iPEDS graduation cohort is limited
to ``first-time, full-time students'' (first-time degree or certificate
seeking students). In the denominator, the rate includes only those
students who have no previous higher education experience, and who
enroll full-time in a degree granting program. In the numerator, the
rate only includes those from the denominator who earn a degree at the
initial institution. Therefore, students who arrive on campus with
transfer credits or start at one institution but graduate from another
are unrepresented in the graduation rate. This differentially impacts
the reporting of veteran students.
Based on the American Council on Education (ACE) analysis and
recommendations, service members and veteran's military transcripts are
evaluated for transfer credit. If credit is awarded, the student will
never be represented in the graduation cohort rate. Because the veteran
is excluded from the cohort, his/her successful completion of a higher
education credential is also not captured.
Being mindful of the SVA's Million Records Project, the metric used
in the GI Bill Comparison Tool does not account for the unique
experience and enrollment patterns of student veterans, specifically,
the arrival on campus with credits from the military transcript and the
high transfer rate between institutions--thus making the iPEDS
graduation data not truly reflective of the efforts of the student
veterans or the institutions providing their education.
One set of outcome measures that is currently proposed is to
capture the course completion rates within institutions of higher
education. Rather than the current graduation metric used in the
comparison tool, course completion rates would be a better indicator of
veteran students' success. While graduation rates are an important
indicator, NAVPA believes that veterans deserve a more valid comparison
tool, which utilizes relevant data/metrics, and urges congress to
ensure that the VA has adequate funding, resources and time to develop
such a tool to accurately depict the successes of our institutions and
students.
Feedback System
NAVPA endorses the GI Bill Feedback system which allows educational
institutions to work with the VA, state and federal agencies to
mitigate veteran students' complaints. We support the increased
scrutiny by the VA for validated serious or flagrant complaints,
including risk-based program reviews.
As an organization, we ask that the notification, follow-up and
resolution process continually be improved. For example, our membership
reports that once they have provided feedback for a complaint lodged
against their school, resolution information is not currently being
provided by the VA.
Not all of the complaints received by our membership have been in
violation of the Principles of Excellence (PoE); instead these are
complaints from students who do not understand processes within higher
education. The Principles of Excellence were established to strengthen
oversight, enforcement, and accountability for students who receive
funding from federal veteran and military educational benefit programs,
yet it would appear from our membership, that all complaints are
treated as PoE violations. It would be helpful if the VA could identify
true PoE violations to be reported. The VA serves primarily as the
facilitator between the student and school for complaint resolution and
should take a more active facilitator role with improved communication
to the institution.
It is also worth noting that there is significant concern that all
complaints, whether valid or invalid against institutions, with no
qualifying information, is available in the School Summary section of
the comparison tool. It is the position of NAVPA that only validated
complaints be listed, along with a summary of corrective actions taken.
Choice Act 2014, Section 702
The ``Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014''
being signed into law by the President is viewed by NAVPA as a
significant commitment from our country to ensure the quality of care
and services afforded to our most deserving population. Section 702 of
the act, requiring that all public institutions of higher learning
participating in VA-approved programs charge in-state tuition and fees
to covered individuals as described in the act, is supported by the
NAVPA membership.
NAVPA is concerned that the implementation date of July 1, 2015 may
not allow all state governments to pass legislation that will bring
their states into compliance with section 702. We understand that VA is
in the process of developing waiver criteria for states that are
actively pursuing changes to become compliant. It is our position that
waivers may create a situation of inequity between state institutions.
We respectfully request that this committee strongly consider passing
House Resolution 475, which includes moving the implementation date for
section 702 to July 1, 2016.
Choice Act 2014 Section 701
NAVPA and our membership would like to commend the Department of
Veterans' Affairs Education for their work in successfully implementing
section 701 of the Choice Act. Our member schools have reported that
the implementation of section 701, including transferring covered
individuals from other VA education benefits to the Fry Scholarship has
been handled very well by the VA.
Closing
In closing, on behalf of the membership institutions of NAVPA, I
thank you for the opportunity to discuss these important issues with
the committee today. We look forward to working with you on veteran
education issues in the future.
Prepared Statement of William Withrow
Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee, thank you for the
opportunity to appear before you today to present testimony on the
efforts of the Peralta Community College District to assist with the
education of our nation's veterans and their families. My name is
William Withrow, and I am a member of the Peralta Board of Trustees. I
was asked by our board President, Meredith Brown, to represent the
District today as I am a veteran and a retired officer of the United
States Navy. I served on active duty for over 24 years. I am pleased to
have this chance to discuss all the programs Peralta has created to
assist our veteran population.
Peralta Community College District is comprised of four colleges--
College of Alameda, Merritt College, Laney College and Berkeley City
College--located in the San Francisco East Bay Community. The four
colleges serve over 30,000 students. The Peralta Community College
District provides accessible, high quality educational programs and
services to meet the needs of our urban, multi-cultural communities.
The colleges and the District take pride in supporting the educational
needs of veterans through a comprehensive array of programs and
services.
The Bay Area has a significant veterans population. The VA
estimates that the area serves over 266,000 vets. Many of these were
recently discharged from military service. They come to Northern
California for employment opportunities as well as for the quality of
life.
A number of veterans attend our four colleges. However, not all of
them take advantage of the GI educational benefits. The cost of
community colleges is quite low in California. It costs only $46 per
credit at Peralta. Thus, many veterans choose not to use their
veterans' benefits while attending our colleges, saving them for when
they transfer to the more expensive University of California,
California State Universities or private colleges. For example, the
VA's GI Bill Comparison Tool identifies 144 veterans attending Berkeley
City College. By our count there are over 260. But while some veterans
are not using their benefits while they are with us, Peralta still
provides special help and assistance for them.
Some of these services include the following:
Academic Credit. Peralta provides six semester units
toward an Associate Degree for military service if the veteran
completes an additional twelve units from Peralta's colleges.
This is our own initiative, not mandated by the State.
Tuition. Peralta waives out-of-state tuition for the
first year when the students establish residency. This has been
our policy for all students for years. We note the provisions
of Section 702 of the Veterans Access, Choice and
Accountability Act of 2014 would simplify this process further.
I can assure you Peralta will be in compliance.
Priority Registration. Veterans receive priority
registration for classes. This is especially important for
students enrolled in high demand classes.
Guaranteed Access to Counselors. This is another
important service. Statewide, California does not have
sufficient counselors to properly service its student
population. This shortage is an ongoing problem at Peralta as
well. However, we ensure that veterans receive priority to
academic and mental health counseling. All new veteran students
see a veteran's counselor to develop a student education plan
and to select their courses.
Orientation to College. Peralta enrolls all new
veteran students in a one unit semester-long ``Orientation to
College'' course that introduces them to college life and
connects them to the services available to help them succeed.
The semester long course ensures that students are supported
through those critical first weeks when many students get lost
and drop-out.
Career Guidance. To assist veterans with their post-
Peralta careers, the Counseling Department offers transfer
workshops to ease the transition to four year colleges and
universities. The College of Alameda also has a one-stop
business and career center which provides free employment
services to job seekers and employers. The center offers a
variety of services including preparation workshops, employer
interviews, career fairs and placement assistance.
Dedicated Space. Finally, at each of our four
colleges, we provide dedicated space committed to veterans, to
allow them to interact and relate to their peers. This space is
for all veterans whether they are using benefits or not. We
have also fostered the growth of veterans student clubs.
Suggested Improvements
As you can see, Peralta values our veteran students, and provides
services to them to make their experience successful. But we have some
suggestions on ways to make the existing veterans education programs
better.
First, there needs to be more recognition and support for
``remediation'' classes. At Peralta, we prefer to use the term
``developmental''. Overall, Mr. Chairman, over 70 percent of students
enrolling at Peralta need some level of developmental education to get
up to college level standards. Veterans benefits cover 6 hours for
developmental courses that are non-credit. Quite frankly more is
needed. Many students, especially veterans who may have been out of
school for awhile, need more than 6 hours to begin taking credit
courses.
Second, we recommend providing more institutional resources for
colleges to be able to support their veteran populations. At present,
each of our four colleges tracks veteran students at their respective
institutions. A district-wide position, Dean of Equity and Student
Success, has just been created that will provide a centralized way of
tracking the progress of veteran students. Peralta is funding this
position out of its own resources. We believe that the VA should
provide it instead, at Peralta and other colleges. This would guarantee
that colleges can provide essential services to help their veteran
students succeed.
Finally, we encourage the military services and VA to provide more
transition support for veterans who are discharged from active duty. We
have found that students often struggle to make the adjustment to
civilian life and preparation for post-secondary education. Many suffer
from emotional trauma from their active duty experiences and many do
not understand the basics of financial management.
You are aware of the issues, which have been identified previously,
but still exist. We commit to working with you to help create programs
to address these needs.
In summary, Mr. Chairman, in preparation for this appearance over
the last week, I met with a number of our veteran students. I was
pleased to find that they are happy at Peralta and are getting a solid
base to their educational and career goals. Veterans educational
programs are the ultimate win-win situation. Many of the certificate
and workforce programs dovetail into the experiences the students had
when they were in service, leading to rewarding careers in auto
technologies, aviation engineering and allied health services. As I
mentioned at the start of my testimony, I served as a Navy officer for
24 years. I took an oath to protect the interests of enlisted
personnel. That carries over into my retirement. I am personally
dedicated to the well-being of our veteran students and Peralta shares
that deep commitment. We look forward to working with this Committee to
provide the best educational experiences for our nation's veteran
population.
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